The Why Files -- whyfiles.org

POSTED 28 JULY 2005Love those leftovers
Reach deep into your fridge. Past the green cottage cheese and the bunch of blackened radishes. Yes, grab that formless lump inside the crinkly tin foil! What exactly is it? Half Ma's meatloaf and half seventh-grade science experiment, those are leftovers -- the bites and bits that didn't rate as Dinner, but might pass as Tomorrow's Lunch.

Leftovers. Everybody got 'em. But what to do with 'em?
NASA says whack them hard and watch what happens next. That's the mission of Deep Impact, which just sent a daughter spacecraft into impact-oblivion against comet Tempel 1.

Above left: Serene and unaware of its impending migraine, Tempel 1 speeds through space, about 5 minutes before Deep Impact's... July 4 impact.All images on this page from NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD

Above right: 30 seconds to impact, in an image from the impactor's targeting sensor. Tempel 1 never saw it coming.